tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post2708047964398257624..comments2015-03-31T08:42:38.610-07:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Brecht: The Stone FishermanZephirinenoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-45499464654567512962010-06-06T11:10:16.834-07:002010-06-06T11:10:16.834-07:00people always laugh at the things they do not unde...people always laugh at the things they do not understand... to hide their humiliation...<br /><br />an immature defense mechanism...<br /><br /><br />we never know for sure what we will have in our net...human beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09232419187783429903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-83243518356209528072010-04-28T06:34:38.980-07:002010-04-28T06:34:38.980-07:00Curtis,
Sounds like an interesting trip. Plenty o...Curtis,<br /><br />Sounds like an interesting trip. Plenty of bumping at any rate.<br /><br />I remember that Hanks bit.<br /><br />Puts me in mind of another finding-the-strange-thing-in-the-trunk plotting gimmick, the punks in Repo Man who find the irradiated extraterrestrial briefcase in the trunk.<br /><br />There&#39;s a good line after they slam the trunk shut.<br /><br />&quot;Let&#39;s go eat sushi and not pay.&quot;<br /><br />Those were the days. Sort of.TChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-63859693146914333292010-04-27T06:31:35.774-07:002010-04-27T06:31:35.774-07:00This &quot;sea-ball&quot; (or float) summons up my...This &quot;sea-ball&quot; (or float) summons up my and my wife&#39;s trip to Scotland in 2005. We rented a car and drove all over the countryside. We picked up one of those floats somewhere along the Western shore, and kept it in the trunk, where it rolled around and bumped against the sides of the trunk.<br /><br />In Castaway, the Tom Hanks character opens up one of the boxes salvaged from the plane crash that strands him on his deserted island. It contains a soccer ball. He paints a face on this soccer ball, and that becomes his sole &quot;companion&quot; through his years there. He names it &quot;Wilson&quot; after the company which manufactured it. Wilson is sort of like Crusoe&#39;s Friday. <br /><br />Toward the end of the movie, Wilson is lost at sea, to the agonized cries of &quot;Willllllllllll-sonn!...Willlllll-sonn&quot; (tears...). <br /><br />So, whenever the glass ball bumped against the trunk, we would say &quot;that&#39;s Wilson&quot;. &quot;Woops, there goes Wilson.&quot; (thump...)Curtis Favillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-54404091545825390842010-04-25T06:34:33.243-07:002010-04-25T06:34:33.243-07:00Thanks very much, Curtis. The tension between elem...Thanks very much, Curtis. The tension between elements of &quot;delicate and muscular&quot;, in Brecht&#39;s sensibility, are what interest me -- that tension which I have tried to capture in the style.<br /><br />A few risks with the tone, but I like the Kafkaesque surprise at the end of this one. The piece offers more than one reading, and the little &quot;click&quot; or double-take at the end, of course, affects which one you pick.<br /><br />He&#39;s an odd bird stylistically, brash, tough, lyrical yet always in the vernacular. I have been fiddling with trying to find a suitable &quot;Brecht in English&quot; tone for c. thirty years now.<br /><br />There&#39;s <a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/brecht-die-opiumraucherin.html" rel="nofollow">this one</a>.<br /><br />And your kind interest, Curtis, has now prompted me to put up <a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/brecht-mask-of-evil.html" rel="nofollow">another</a>.TChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-85413059582504770252010-04-24T18:07:51.808-07:002010-04-24T18:07:51.808-07:00I know nothing of Brecht’s German style (my own Ge...I know nothing of Brecht’s German style (my own German reading knowledge was acquired a long time ago to satisfy graduate school “competency requirements” and is now mostly lost, although fondly remembered and occasionally summoned up in a pinch), but I love the way your translation feels German – delicate and muscular both – and tells the story it tells in active, vivid English. And for my newly acquired knowledge of fishing net floats, many thanks.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.com